Apple this spring plans to roll out its own onsite clinics for employees, sources familiar with the company's plans told CNBC.
The new group of clinics, called AC Wellness, comes as Apple dialed down its contract with its existing in-house clinic. Sources told CNBC that Apple began informing third-party vendors of the move to its own health clinics this week. The news also follows an announcement from Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan to launch a health care non-profit for their employees, CNBC reports.
Read Advisory Board's take on the Amazon-Berkshire-JPMorgan partnership
Details on AC Wellness
Apple without announcement published a new website, acwellness.com, which provides additional details on the AC Wellness program, CNBC reports. According to the website, "AC Wellness is an independent medical practice dedicated to delivering compassionate, effective health care to the Apple employee population." The practice is scheduled to launch in Spring 2018, the website states.
According to CNBC, AC Wellness is a primary care group that is operated independently from Apple, but which is focused on providing care for Apple employees. Based on a job listings search on Apple's website, CNBC reports that AC Wellness is listed as a "subsidiary of Apple." Specifically, according to CNBC's Christina Farr, AC Wellness is designed so physicians and other providers "can function independently from Apple," while "non-clinical staff are getting hired by Apple via a subsidiary."
At the outset, the primary care group—which currently includes two clinics—will be available only to Apple employees in Santa Clara County, California, where the company has its headquarters. Sources told CNBC that Apple also will use the clinics to test its health services and products, which the company is starting to offer to consumers at large. And according to CNBC, AC Wellness' "development appears to be well underway," with postings on job listings website Indeed.com citing "multiple, stunning state-of-the-art medical centers" a few miles north of Apple's Cupertino headquarters, as well as another center at the new Apple Park campus.
In addition to providing details on the program, acwellness.com also hosts a career page featuring job openings for a primary care physician, exercise coach, care navigator, and phlebotomist to provide lab testing on site, CNBC reports. In addition to conventional roles, Apple is also searching for "designers"—including a population health manager and clinical program design lead—to collaborate with operations and technology teams to implement a program targeted toward disease prevention and health promotion, according to CNBC.
According to CNBC, a LinkedIn search shows former Stanford Health Care employees have been affiliated with AC Wellness for at least five months. However, the employees do not list Apple on their profiles (Bradshaw, Financial Times, 2/27; Farr, CNBC, 2/27; Kollmeyer, MarketWatch, 2/27).
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